The system occasionally shuts down upon startup or after 10 minutes of operation.
The system occasionally shuts down upon startup or after 10 minutes of operation.
Hi everyone! Over the past weeks, my PC has been booting up without any display or sound—no BIOS logo, no Windows. I have to force shut it down and restart manually. It works after a couple attempts, but then it boots normally again, with no other problems. Occasionally, about 10 minutes after startup, it can happen, though it hasn’t occurred beyond that time. So the PC is fine during the day, while in use or gaming.
I haven’t changed any hardware since upgrading my GPU two years ago. The system and case are from around 2015. It might be that the PSU or motherboard has reached the end of its life. I’m trying to confirm this before making any replacements.
From the system error logs, I see mostly “System unexpectedly shut down” messages.
OS Name: Microsoft Windows 10 Home
System Model: MS-7821
BIOS Version/Date: American Megatrends Inc. V2.6, 24/12/2014
PSU: Cooler Master B600 V2 600W
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-4790K CPU @ 4.00GHz, 4001 Mhz, 4 Core(s), 8 Logical Processor(s)
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060
RAM: 16 GB
Storage: 300 GB SSD, 2 TB HDD
I’m just grabbing some cleaning supplies in case a thorough clean is needed. Any suggestions?
What leads you to believe a thorough cleaning will resolve the issue? Polishing and waxing your vehicle won't address a malfunctioning engine. Unless your CPU/GPU cooler fan and heatsink are blocked by a heavy buildup, consider another approach.
This connection highlights that your PSU may be of poor quality. If you purchased it in 2015, replace it with a more recent, higher-quality model.
I was wondering if there might be more dust inside the PSU, especially since I ran out of compressed air earlier. You think it’s probably a PSU issue? The parts still show power when the screen goes black or stays dark (like GPU, fans, drives). If that’s the case, I’ll consider getting a Corsair 750x instead of upgrading the motherboard.
The PSU could be the main suspect. Without a detailed diagnostic tool, swapping it out is the simplest method to verify its condition. You might also need to check the motherboard, CPU, or RAM. Avoid overclocking if you're unsure which component is faulty. If you have an extra GPU, consider testing it temporarily.
Hi, please test with another power source and confirm the latest BIOS updates for Windows and your graphics card. Also check compatibility between MB and the card, but start by trying a different power supply to ensure system stability. Let me know what you find, I'm here to help.
After some days of troubleshooting, I realized these problems tend to appear often when working with my dual monitor setup or specifically their audio sources. Usually I don’t use my monitor speakers and rely on external ones. Since I recently got a PS5 a few months ago, I’ve been switching monitors or the external speakers in and out, which disrupts the dual monitor configuration and default sound settings, possibly leading to issues on the next boot. This led me to disable all sound sources on the PC except the external speakers. I also try to restart the PC after turning on the monitors and speakers. It’s been about a week now, and so far I haven’t encountered any problems. If it happens again, I’ll revisit this and note that it wasn’t the cause. So far, it seems to be helping the system remain more stable. Also, thanks for the tips!